The ending of another year!

Good morning all and hope that you've now recovered a little from the excesses of Christmas and are ready to face the excesses of New Year!  We haven't got a big new year party planned for tonight, but as it's also my birthday we're all joining up with some friends at the local pub for an hour or so then heading home for meal from our nearby (and excellent!) Chinese take-away! Not very glamorous I know! But for me that is a lovely way to spend my birthday and a New Year's Eve - having a laugh with good friends and family (and no cooking lol!).

So I just thought I'd share a quick card with you for the close of 2012 - and I hope that 2013 is a fantastic one for everyone. As I mentioned in a post at Christmas, I've had great fun with my blog and on Design Teams since starting in March this year. It's made me try new crafting things, I've enjoyed browsing around some of the truly inspirational crafting that you all produce - and probably spent a good deal more than I should have done on crafting goodies! But I'm looking forward to carrying on with it all in 2013 and hopefully improving my crafting as I go!

This card was made using one of my favourite digi stamps from MoManning - 'Tom & Tilly'. Aren't they just the sweetest pair?  I've coloured them with my faithful promarkers and pencils - although I think I need to practice my grey hair technique and curly hair technique a bit more! 

The backing paper is from First Edition 'Birdsong', with a Marianne die cut swirl and Tonic punched flowers. The sentiment is from Whimsy stamps, with the Whimsy ticket die, and a little sheer ribbon from Joanna Sheen.  I do hope you like it! 

So have a great New Year - whatever you have planned!  And wishing you all health and happiness in 2013! 

Take care,

Back soon

Kim x 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:-
Eclectic Ellapu - anything goes
OneStitchAt A Time - use a digi
Challenges4Everybody - anything goes

Recovering from excesses?

Good morning all and I hope that I find you well and that you've had a good Christmas? We had a mix of busy days and quieter ones, just 5 of us here for Christmas dinner (although visitors on the day!) but then a bit of a family party yesterday for nearly a dozen!  Over the last few days we seem to have done a huge amount of eating, and I'm starting to feel as though I've been constantly preparing food, cooking or washing up! But I'm planning a quieter day today and determined to get some crafting done as I'm starting to get withdrawal symptoms!  I'll let you know if I manage it!

But in the meantime I thought I'd share a card made for a young couple's wedding

I've used a LOTV stamp coloured with promarkers

and decorated the inside to match

Ingredients for this card:-

Stamp - LOTV 'Together Forever'

Promarkers & Pencils & Distress Ink 'spun sugar'

Spellbinders - oval and floral oval dies

Marianne - swirl die

Wild Orchid Crafts - flowers, leaves & heart charm

Papers - coredinations card, LOTV Nitwit papers

Hope you like it! 

Back soon, Kim x 

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

CharismaCardz - anything goes

DelightfulChallenges - anything goes

DutchDareChallenges - celebration

InThePink - pink and pearly

PaperCraftingJourney - anything goes

TuesdayAlchemy - anything goes

VickiesChallenges - anything goes

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas!

Just a quick posting from me today - as you can imagine, there's plenty to do when there's a family about! But we're nearly all ready now for tomorrow - and what we haven't got or forgotten about then we'll do without!  I just feel so sorry for those who've been flooded out in different areas of the UK - thankfully, we've just had lots of rain but we're not flooded! So as long as we've got food & heating, and each other! - that's what Christmas is about!

So, on that thought, I'll just share one last Christmas card with you

a quick card made with a LOTV stamp, coloured with promarkers and lots of added stickles and flowersoft snow

The backing papers are from Dovecraft and a couple of Marianne die cut poinsettias. The sentiment stamp is from LOTV too. 

I've had such great fun with this blog since starting it in March this year, and that's purely and simply because of all you wonderful people that take the time to call by and leave such positive comments. So a very big thank you to you all - 

and a parting Christmas pic from Tilly herself (my gorgeous, silly, loveable, infuriating and irreplaceable doggy who this blog is named after!)

She's desperately waiting to open all the treats in her stocking! 

So have a fantastic Christmas whatever you're doing! 

Back soon,

Kim x    (& Tilly!) xx 

Christmas Stress Levels?

Good evening all in Blogland and hope that everyone is well and starting to feel the Christmas Spirit?! Sorry for having been AWOL but I could probably do with a slightly stronger spirit as I'm starting to get my usual 'stress-head' and feel like the proverbial plate-spinning act, racing round trying to make sure everything is done or organised. It's my last day at work tomorrow before I finish for nearly two weeks - yippee! So I'm hoping that I will feel a little more relaxed when I can just concentrate on what needs doing at home. But despite all that, I am really looking forward to Christmas, a time to relax (hopefully!) and enjoy spending some time together without all the usual humdrum daily activities and routines!

However, I confess that I won't be sorry to see the back of Christmas cards for a while!  I've had to make a few 'quickie' ones too, as there always seems to be a few that I've missed or forgotten about. I've decided to leave the 'Christmas Card List' out near my crafting next year so that I can hopefully keep a better track on how many I've made and how many more I need to do! Or at least that will be one of the New Year Crafting Resolutions!

But before all that, I just thought I'd share another Christmas card today

I've used a gorgeous little digi stamp that I chose as a prize from Jellypark challenges - isn't he a cute little robin?

I've coloured it with promarkers and added some flowersoft 'snow' and glitter.  The backing papers are from LOTV 'KraftyChristmas' and the sentiment is also from LOTV. I've added some spotty ribbon from Joanna Sheen and a Tonic punched snowflake, and a button from stash. 

Mind you, any robins in my garden today would definitely be on the soggy side with the continual rain we've had lol! 

So, good luck with the last minute Christmas preparations! 

Back soon, 

Kim x 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:-

CraftsandMe - WinterWonderland

CreativeBelli - Christmas

DivasByDesign - anything goes

FreshlyBrewed - Christmas

LadybugCrafts - Christmas

Christmas Red & Green

Hello all and hope that you're just about ready for Christmas? I can't believe that it's only a week away and I'm going through my usual psychological melt-down, convinced that I've forgotten things, not done something or overlooked something - but all the while trying to tell myself to calm down, relax, enjoy the season and smile!  Hey ho.  But regardless of my fretting, the rest of the household is starting to get into the Christmas mood - my daughter has finished at uni for her Christmas break, my son finishes school on Friday for 2 weeks and both my husband and I finish work on Friday too - Yippee!  It'll be so nice not to have to wake with the alarm clock and get up in the dark for a while!

Anyway, I've yet another Christmas card to share with you today.  This little cutie is from Wee Stamps 'Heidi'. I've used her before and coloured her with frosty blues, but thought I'd try her with more traditional red and green colours - although I'm still not overly convinced that it works! All honest opinions welcome!

I've coloured her with promarkers and pencils, with a little added stickles and flowersoft 'snow'

As I'm starting to get a bit pushed for time now (to put it mildly!) I just decided to use a simple 6" square gatefold card shape. The holly paper is from Dovecraft and the sentiment stamp is from LOTV. The holly 'button' is from stash. The inside is decorated to match

So quite a simple card really, but I do love these cute images from Sylvia Zet! 

So hope that your Christmas preparations are in full swing!

Back soon, Kim x 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:-

Come and get it challenges - anything Christmas

Dream Valley Challenges - Christmas

Joanna Sheen Challenge - with love at Christmas

The Squirrel & the Fox - Christmas

New Beginnings

Good morning - I'm back again with a new challenge over at CraftyCatz and it's our last one for this year.  The challenge blog will be having a short break over Christmas and then we'll be back in the New Year with lots of new challenges!

But for our last challenge for 2012 our lovely Nina has chosen the challenge of 'New Beginnings' - so let's see your creations celebrating something new - New Year, New Baby, etc.!

So I've chosen the theme of 'New Home'

I've used a cute stamp from Chocolate Baroque 'Sunburst Scenes' and coloured it with promarkers

Then I used chalks to create the sky and the green hill! 

The backing papers are coredinations card and some gorgeous 'fabric' paper with the houses print that I've had in my stash for so long I've forgotten where it came from! I printed the sentiment and then used a kraft tag and added a little lace. The mulberry flower is from Wild Orchid. 

Hope you like it! 

So do think about new beginnings and then join us this week at CraftyCatz!

Kim  x

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:-

CraftsandMeChallenges - no blue

For Fun Challenges - home/house

Bearly Mine - anything goes

CraftyBloggersNetwork - anything goes

PennysPaperCrafty - something new

The red-nosed reindeer!

Good morning - it's Friday and time for a new challenge over at Totally Papercrafts!  This week the lovely Lisa has challenged us with a sketch



and our sponsor this week is DigiStamp Boutique, so I've used one of their images

Now you can't have Christmas without Rudolph can you?  I've used this cute 'Rudolph' from DSB, coloured him with promarkers and added a red pearl for that famous nose! 

The backing papers are from Dovecraft and LOTV, with some coredinations card for matting. The sentiment is from LOTV and the ribbon is from stash. 

So do join us at Totally Papercrafts for our last challenge of 2012 - we'll then be on a short break over Christmas until the New Year and then back with lots of great challenges and fabulous sponsors! 

Back soon ,

Kim x 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:-

Freshly Brewed - Christmas

The Perfect Sentiment - Christmas

A&T Emerald Fairies - Christmas

Creative Card Crew - star

A frosty day!

Good afternoon from a very cold and frosty corner of the UK! At least the misty/foggy conditions have cleared a bit here, but it's icy cold - although it does make the garden look very festive, with a white coating over everything!  So I just thought I'd share another quick Christmas card with you before I wrap up with hat, scarf, gloves, etc., and head off for a walk through the woods with the dog! We're meeting up with one of my best friends and her dog (which is a HUGE newfoundland dog, about three times bigger than Tilly - but they get on very well!) - but I think we might head to a nearby cafe in the park afterwards for a hot chocolate!

And can I just say a VERY BIG THANK YOU! for all the lovely comments that you've been leaving on my creations! They mean so much. I'm trying to keep up with getting around everyone's blogs, but it's such a hectic time of year I feel as though I'm running to stay in the same place! But I will get round to everyone soon - and a very warm welcome to my new follower too!

So on to today's card

I've used another one of the Whimsy Christmas sentiment digi stamps, and added a few coloured details with promarkers.  The backing papers are from Dovecraft, with a Spellbinders 'floral oval' frame and some poinsettias using a Marianne die

And the inside decorated to match

So quite a simple card, but I think it looks quite nice. And it's good to have a few cards that don't have a 'cute' image on - even though they're great fun to colour! 

Right, I'm off to get the thermals on and the walking boots. 

Back soon,

Kim x 

Yet more Christmas cards!

Good morning! Just a quick post from me today before I head off to work.  I suppose it's the same for most of us, particularly at this time of year, but there seems to be an endless list of things to do and not enough hours in the day to fit them all in!  So this was a quick card I put together, a digi 'sentiment', no colouring - but I was quite pleased with how it turned out so I can see a few more of these being made to finish off the number of 'handmade' cards I need for Christmas (although I confess that I also buy some - unless I started making them in January I don't think I'd manage to make enough!)

I've used a Whimsy digi 'Christmas Sentiment', edged with a little distress ink. The holly paper is from First Edition, with some layered coredinations card punched with a Tonic border punch. I've added a Marianne ivy die cut edged with ink, some gingham ribbon and roses from Wild Orchid. 

and the inside decorated to match. 

Hope you like it!

Well, it's "Hey ho, hey ho, it's off to work I go"!

Back soon, Kim x 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:-

Challenges 4 everybody - anything goes

RobynsFetish - Christmas cards

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Good morning all and hope that your weekend has been going well? It's certainly beginning to look a lot like Christmas in our house now as trees and decorations were put up yesterday.  I have to confess that it was probably a bit earlier than I would normally do them, but pressure (i.e. offspring nagging) made me do it!  It does get a bit easier as the kids have got older as they help rather than hinder - most of the time. Although tying gold tinsel round the dog probably doesn't constitute decorating the house (I think she quite liked it though!).  But I now have lots of little glowing white lights and feel ready to tackle the card-writing and present-wrapping.  I do get accused of my Christmas tree looking like a shop display, as I'm very boring (apparently) and only like white lights (and not flashing ones - a certain recipe for a migraine!) and gold baubles. So I weakened this year and allowed some soft glow coloured ones on a tree in the hall - and they do look quite nice! I do like my home to look cosy and festive, with lots of greenery and candles - we just need some snow now to make it look like a film set for performing 'Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...' lol!

And thankfully the building work on the bathroom is now finished - and it looks wonderful! It's fantastic to have a shower with a good strong flow and a toilet that flushes properly first time! It's quite sad really how excited a middle aged woman can get over bathroom fittings.....

Anyway, just thought I'd share a bit of cross stitch with you today. I've been busy making a last few Christmas cards as well, and will try and get some decent photos today if the light is a bit better.

This little hanger was made with a chart from Lizzie Kate. I stitched it onto gold-flecked aida fabric and added a few gold beads. I just liked the simplicity of this one, and the 'rustic' charm (although most of my cross stitch offerings have a touch of the 'rustic' about them - probably to do with dog & cat hairs!). 

And this little hanger was from a pattern in an old American cross stitch magazine

I stitched this onto ivory aida - and again, can't resist adding some beads!  I was a bit disappointed though, as it's supposed to be a heart shape, but due to my dodgy stitching up and stuffing technique, it's looking like a bit of a wonky heart! Sigh. 

Anyway, I'll be back soon with yet more Christmas cards - and much as I love Christmas, it'll be quite nice when I've finished these not to have to make any more for a while! 

Enjoy the rest of your day, 

Kim x 

I'm entering these hangers into the following challenges:-

Emergency Crafters - deck the halls

Fussyand Fancy - I love Christmas

CraftUsCrazy - Christmas/Winter

One for the boys!

I'm back again!  As it's Friday it's time for a new challenge over at Totally Papercrafts and this week our lovely Sue has challenged us to make a card or creation for the male of the species!  So I decided to use one of my much loved LOTV stamps

I've coloured him with promarkers and pencils

The backing papers are coredinations card and Inspirables from EK Success.  I've added a stitched border, some bakers twine and a wooden button.  The sentiment tags are from LOTV with brads. 

Our sponsor this week is 

So I hope you'll pop over to the Totally Papercrafts challenge, have a look at the fantastic inspiration from the DT - and then join us! 

Back soon, Kim x 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:-

Cards by Lady Anne - Stamp Challenge -anything goes

PennysPapercrafty - anything goes

Loves Rubber Stamps - anything goes

Papertake Weekly - anything goes

Anything but square!

Good morning! It's Friday! Yippee! I hope you have some nice things planned for the weekend. It's a scheduled post because I work on Fridays but then looking forward to getting all the Christmas decorations up this weekend.

And as it's Friday it's time for a new challenge over at Crafty Catz - and this week our lovely Beth has set the challenge for us to make cards but with no squares or rectangles! Now this is always a challenge for me as my standard cards are nearly always 6" square - oops!  But anyway I came up with this

I've used an image from this week's sponsor 

The backing papers are from LOTV 'KraftyChristmas' with some added flowersoft and pearls.  The ivy and poinsettias were made with a Marianne die

And lots of added Stickles of course!  Then just a white satin bow to finish. 

Hope you like it!

So do pop over to CraftyCatz and join us for this week's challenge.

Back soon, Kim x 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:-

Christmas at Sweet Stampin - anything Christmas goes

Freshly Brewed - Christmas

Paper Pretties - Christmas Inspiration

Deep Ocean Challenge - Christmas

Whimsy New Releases - Day 4!

Good afternoon all and hope that your week is going well?  The weather here today is awful, cold, windy and lots of rain - but no snow!  Not sure which is worse.... At least snow is a bit prettier to look at and I prefer it on the whole - as long as I've not got to drive anywhere!  But speaking of snow, I'd like to share my card I made for Day 4 of the new releases for Whimsy Digital Stamps

I've used the digi stamp 'SnowDay' from Stamp Art Design by Kathryne at Whimsy Stamps. 

I've coloured the image with promarkers and added some Stickles and flowersoft 'snow'. The backing paper is from LOTV, with some added lace, some Tonic punched snowflakes and a cute snowman button! 

On Monday 3rd December Whimsy Stamps released this month's new digital designs. From then until 6th December the Whimsy Digital DT are showcasing these fabulous new  goodies with a daily mini blog hop and I am part of today’s hop!

Each mini blog hop has a new release prize hidden somewhere along the way and you have 24hrs to enter each prize draw.

To be entered  into today's mini blog hop prize draw, be sure to leave a comment on ALL of the DT's posts listed below by 12.00PM EST tomorrow.

Day 4

Jackie Randolph 

Kelly Mannix

Michelle Oatman

 Jackie Smith 

Lisa West 

Tracie

Suzi Mckenzie

Judith Hall

Kim Taylor

Christine Garner 

All winners will be announced on the Whimsy blog on 7th December

  

                                      Moon Cookie Gallery          Stamp Art Designs by Kathryn

   

                                    Dana's Digi's                         Lia Stampz

     

                                         Crissy's Digis                       Marika Collins Collection

Remember that the entire new release is available to buy right now from the Whimsy Stamps store along with all your Whimsy favourites. 

Back soon, Kim x 

Whimsy Digital Stamps - Day 3 of new releases!

Good afternoon and I'm back again with Day 3 of the Whimsy Digital Stamps Showcase for the new releases! 

On Monday 3rd December Whimsy Stamps released this month's new digital designs. From then until 6th December the Whimsy Digital DT are showcasing these fabulous new  goodies with a daily mini blog hop and I am part of today’s hop!

Each mini blog hop has a new release prize hidden somewhere along the way and you have 24hrs to enter each prize draw.

To be entered  into today's mini blog hop prize draw, be sure to leave a comment on ALL of the DT's posts listed below by 12.00PM EST tomorrow.

Day 3

Kelly Mannix 

Sarah McLaughlin 

Kim Taylor (Me!)

Jackie Smith 

Lisa West 

Debbie Dunn 

Suzi Mckenzie

Laura Palmer

Anne Cullen

Nicole Gent 

Jan Ltc 

Tammy Davison 

Judith Hall 

Michelle Oatman

Christine Garner 

 All winners will be announced on the Whimsy blog on 7th December

  

                                      Moon Cookie Gallery          Stamp Art Designs by Kathryn

   

                                    Dana's Digi's                         Lia Stampz

     

                                         Crissy's Digis                       Marika Collins Collection

Today I've used one of the gorgeous new sets of digital design papers from Michelle Roos Designs - Blue Linen Floral

I've layered up some of the papers in the collection - and they already have that lovely faded & distressed edging to them. I've used the papers to cut a Sizzix flower, with a wooden button centre. Added some bakers twine and a cute crafting sentiment from Raindrop Echo Designs at Whimsy.  Then just a little distress ink, some pearls from stash & a seam binding bow! 

Hope you like it! 

Remember that the entire new release is available to buy right now from the Whimsy Stamps store along with all your Whimsy favourites. Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to pop back to the Whimsy blog tomorrow for more new release creations! 

Back soon, Kim x